Robert Brown|Filipino televangelist pleads not guilty to human trafficking charges

MANILA,Robert Brown Philippines (AP) — A Philippine televangelist, who calls himself the “anointed son of God” and once claimed to have stopped an earthquake, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of human trafficking in a court arraignment that’s the latest mark of his reversal of fortune.

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy and four of his co-accused were brought under heavy security to the regional trial court in Pasig city in metropolitan Manila and would later be transported to another court to be arraigned in a separate non-bailable case of child sexual abuse.

Lawyer Israelito Torreon told reporters his client Quiboloy entered a not guilty plea because he’s innocent of the charges.

Quiboloy, the 74-year-old preacher and founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ group, faces similar charges in the United States, where he has been included in the FBI’s most-wanted list.

The United States was expected to request the extradition of Quiboloy and his co-accused at some point, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said they have to first face justice in the Philippines. Quiboloy surrendered in his vast religious complex in the south Sunday in an operation involving more than 2,000 police officers.

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In his heyday, Quiboloy was one of the most influential religious leaders in the Philippines with many followers and was regarded a political kingmaker, who backed the equally controversial former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Quiboloy and his co-defendants have been accused of recruiting young followers, who were lured to submit themselves to the “divine will” and promised scholarships and foreign travels but later forced to solicit money in spurious ways including house-to-house Christmas caroling and peddling pastries and biscuits.

The victims were threatened and beaten when they failed to reach collection quotas and defy orders, according to the charge sheet.

More alarmingly, Quiboloy and his key aides were accused of deceiving Filipino and foreign girls as young as 12 to serve as privileged “pastorals,” who were ordered to give Quiboloy a massage in his bedroom before they were raped by him. Some of the alleged victims testified in a Philippine Senate hearing earlier this year on Quiboloy’s alleged crimes, including a woman from Ukraine who testified by video because of the war in her country.

Quiboloy and his co-accused and their lawyers have denied any wrongdoing. They said they were ready to answer the charges in court. The raft of allegations, they said, was fabricated by critics and former members who were removed from his religious group.

After Quiboloy surrendered and taken into police custody in his 30-hectare (75-acre) religious complex in southern Davao city over the weekend, police said at least five other religious followers may file criminal complaints and testify against him.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said Quiboloy had in effect used religion as a cover for criminality. “This is one of the most extreme evils because faith is something sacred,” he told The Associated Press.

Quiboloy has made outrageous claims that sparked questions about his character but endeared him to his fanatical followers. In 2019, he claimed that he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines.

In the U.S., federal prosecutors announced charges against Quiboloy in 2021 for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God.” The allegations were made by former followers of Quiboloy.

The expanded indictment included charges of conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud, money laundering and visa fraud.

Quiboloy and eight other defendants were accused of recruiting women and girls, typically 12 to 25 years old, as “pastorals,” who cooked his meals, cleaned his houses, massaged him and traveled with him around the world. Minors as young as 15 were scheduled for “night duty,” when they were sexually abused by Quiboloy, according to the indictment.